Katrina Live Thread, Part XIV

President Bush continues to assess the catastrophic damage by air and on the ground in Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Bush spent the day meeting with search and rescue personnel, relief commanders, and displaced residents in Mobile, Biloxi, and the New Orleans area. U.S. Congress passed a $10.5 billion relief package for the hurricane ravaged areas. First Lady Laura Bush issued a press statement from an evacuation shelter in Lafayette, Louisiana.

Patient and staff evacuations continue from numerous New Orleans Hospitals. Thousands of patients are being airlifted to a field hospital at Louis Armstrong New Orleans Airport for triage, staging, and transport to hospitals throughout the United States.

The U.S. Coast Guard and civilian volunteers continue to evacuate thousands of survivors from their flooded homes in New Orleans. The Army Corps of Engineers continues work to repair the damaged levees.

The nation's airlines today began an operation intended to fly up to 25,000 refugees out of New Orleans. The airlines are volunteering their aircraft and crews for the program. Long convoys loaded with relief supplies arrived throughout the day into New Orleans, while convoys of buses are moving survivors out of the city.

Several large fires are burning in the city and greater New Orleans area. Reports indicate snipers are holding down firefighters. Reports of shots fired with LEO down in the St. Bernard Parish area. Rescue operations are underway. A bus carrying NOLA evauees rolled over in Opelousa, LA.

New Orleans Emergency Operations Center - is now open:
504-463-1000
504-463-1001
504-463-1002

WWL-TV New Orleans (via WFAA Dallas) - WWL-TV is operating from studios at Louisiana Public Broadcasting. CBS has a relay during the morning and afternoon. When available, use the CBS relay first as they have greater streaming capacity. Yahoo has also provided a relay.

WDSU-TV New Orleans - The news staff has started to return to temporary news studios near New Orleans. However, expect evening coverage from Hearst-Argyle sister stations WAPT Jackson and WESH Orlando when the New Orleans staff needs to take a break.

WGNO-TV New Orleans - New Orleans' ABC affiliate has returned to the air with WBRZ-TV and launched video streaming with continuous Katrina coverage.

WPMI-TV Mobile, AL - WPMI is webcasting from 5:30am - 10:30pm CDT. When off air, you can view pre-recorded reports on demand. This feed is often unreliable.

WKRG-TV Mobile, AL - This station is providing good coverage of the situation to the east in Mississippi and Alabama. However, the station is now signing off at around 10:30pm CDT like WWL and WPMI.

WJTV-TV Jackson, MS - The CBS affiliate in Jackson is providing live coverage for both the Jackson area and south Mississippi (knowing a lot of media in that area is off the air).

United Radio From New Orleans: WWL-AM, WNOE-FM, "KISS-FM," WRNO-FM, WYLD-FM, and WJBO-AM who have joined forces as United Radio From New Orleans, and they are streaming.

Due to the number of requests to assist, the following list of some charities is provided.
This is not intended as an endorsement for any of the charities.

www.redcross.org or 1-800 HELP NOW - note: website is slow, and lines are busy
Salvation Army - 1-800-SAL-ARMY or Salvation Army currently looking for in-state volunteers - (888)363-2769
Operation Blessing: (800) 436-6348.
America's Second Harvest: (800) 344-8070.
Catholic Charities USA: (800) 919-9338, or www.catholiccharitiesusa.org.
Christian Reformed World Relief Committee: (800) 848-5818.
Church World Service: (800) 297-1516 or online at www.churchworldservice. org.
Lutheran Disaster Response: (800) 638-3522.
Nazarene Disaster Response: (888) 256-5886.
Presbyterian Disaster Assistance: (800) 872-3283.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is accepting donations at its 3,800 stores and Web site, www.walmart.com.
National Black Home Educators Resource Association http://www.nbhera.org/ Southern Baptist: NAMB - http://www.namb.net/
Samaritan's Purse - http://www.samaritanspurse.org/

More Heroes:

Brothers come to rescue of stranded neighbours

Until Hurricane Katrina swept through the neighbourhood, North Shore Drive was one of the nicest places to live in Biloxi, Mississippi. Large houses with swimming pools and boat wharfs overlooked the normally gentle waters of Tchoutacabouffa Bluff.

Now, the street is caked in thick, crab-infested mud and the pools are filled with murky seawater and fish, reminders of a 25ft storm surge that flooded some of the houses to their roofline.

Among the residents of North Shore Drive are brothers Daniel and John O'Connor. Their story, and the story of how they saved the lives of several neighbours, is one small subplot in the epic saga of Katrina. But their experience is symbolic of the countless human dramas that occurred along the Gulf coast on Monday, August 29.

Like many of those who decided to ignored evacuation orders, the O'Connor brothers had lived through Camille, the 1969 hurricane that killed 256 people. Camille's storm surge flooded the gardens of North Shore Drive but did not reach the houses, let alone the roofs. "We were sat back fat and happy because we thought nothing could be worse than Camille," says John. "But it was."

Katrina's storm surge came gradually, more like a rising tide than a tsunami, says Daniel. He realised they had underestimated her when the water started rising against his ground floor windows, turning the living room into an aquarium. Soon, the glass gave way and water poured into the two-storey home, forcing Daniel and his British wife, Sara, upstairs. They sat in life-jackets listening to their downstairs furniture being spun around as if in a tumble dryer and watching as the water rose towards the roofs of lower-lying houses.

One of those houses belonged to their friend, Kathy Jenkins. She climbed out of her upstairs bathroom window into the water and clambered on to the roof. The 38-year-old clung there for three hours as the water edged higher and 100mph winds threatened to rip her away. "I said every prayer I knew and sung Christmas carols," she recalls.

Kathy's prayers were answered when the bright orange raincoat she was wearing caught the attention of Daniel through his rain-splattered window. The 45-year-old waded downstairs and managed to release his 14ft fishing boat from its trailer beside the house. He was joined by his 48-year-old brother, who lives next door, and together they motored through the choppy, debris-strewn water and plucked Kathy to safety. "These guys are heroes," she says. "If it hadn't been for them I would probably be dead."

Next, the brothers sailed from house to house looking for other neighbours in distress. Among those rescued: an elderly man recently recovered from a heart bypass operation and his wife, who could not swim; and Irvin Blanks, an 85-year-old D-Day veteran, who afterwards gave the brothers his war medals to thank them for saving his life. "If the storm had occurred at night I wouldn't have survived," he says.

In all, 10 people spent Monday night in the sanctuary of Daniel and Sara's upper floor. John has been bed-ridden there since wounding his bare foot on a submerged shard of glass following the storm.

It is not yet known whether every resident of North Shore Drive survived. Some homes have been deserted since the storm but it is unclear whether their occupants evacuated beforehand or were swept away by the flood.

Once the water receded, its brutal power was exposed by the devastation left behind. The floor of Daniel and Sara's living room is covered in shattered glass and bent nails, with smashed furniture and appliances piled atop each other. A large fridge/freezer lies open on its side, emitting a pungent smell of rotting food. In the garage, their sports utility vehicle was spun 180 degrees from the position in which it had been parked. Outside, the wall of the house facing the water is buckled and riddled with holes.

The O'Connors have spent the days since the storm salvaging what they can from the ruins. Soggy family photographs lay drying on a garden bench, while a collection of ornaments from Saudi Arabia, where the couple met, sit waiting to be cleaned.

Daniel fears the damage is so great that the house will have to be demolished. He and Sara, 42, must then decide whether to rebuild on North Shore Drive or move elsewhere. "It's hard to believe there will ever be another Katrina," he says. "But that's what we said about Camille."

This is just a repost of earlier info all in one place to make it easier to cut & paste in email etc.

President Bush May Have singlehandedly saved thousands of lives.

8-26-05 Friday

www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/08/20050827-1.html

Quote: "The President today declared an emergency exists in the State of Louisiana and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the parishes located in the path of Hurricane Katrina beginning on August 26, 2005,

8-28-05 Sunday

www.nola.com/newsflash/louisiana/index.ssf?base/news-18/1125239940201382.xml&storylist=louisiana

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — In the face of a catastrophic Hurricane Katrina, a mandatory evacuation was ordered Sunday for New Orleans by Mayor Ray Nagin.
Acknowledging that large numbers of people, many of them stranded tourists, would be unable to leave, the city set up 10 places of last resort for people to go, including the Superdome.
The mayor called the order unprecedented and said anyone who could leave the city should. He exempted hotels from the evacuation order because airlines had already cancelled all flights.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco, standing beside the mayor at a news conference, said President Bush called and personally appealed for a mandatory evacuation for the low-lying city, which is prone to flooding.

In addition, President Bush did something never done before in an impending disaster by a President, he made an unprecedented appeal on television for folks to evacuate because the Mayor and Governor of Louisiana were ineffective in motivating the citizens of their state to evacuate.

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